Winter (signed, his own copy)
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1912. First edition. Hardcover. Signed by Sharp at the head of the front free endpaper. Scarce signed, and a scarce book in general. On that same page is an additional inscription from his wife to friends three years after his death: "to his friend Caroline Hale Russ and his friendship with her and her rare husband, Willis R. Russ, by the hand of 'Daphne,' Mullein Hill, Dec 10, 1932." Daphne appears to be a nickname or pseudonym for his wife, Grace Hastings Sharp (see for example his writing about "Daphne" here). Seemingly an author's copy, as such, which his wife gave away. On the table of contents are small notations in pencil--quite possibly in Sharp's hand--with abbreviations and dates that appear to indicate where these essays first appeared ("YC" for The Youth's Companion, for instance). Mullein Hill, referenced in the inscription, was their farm in Hingham, MA, and the dedication of the book reads, "To the four small boys on Mullein Hill who hunt the snow with me." This book is one of the quartet Sharp wrote about the seasons (ever a classic pursuit for naturalist writers), all of them seemingly scarce in the first edition. Illustrated with painting and pen-and-ink sketches by prominent wildlife artist Robert Bruce Horsfall. Caroline Hale Russ is likely the same as the editor of The Log of a Forty-Niner, the diary of her father, Richard Hale. Beige cloth with white illustrative stamping to cover. A very good copy with slight darkening to spine, and on the rear board one wrinkle and at the lower corner a modest pink stain. Very good. Item #1528
Price: $750.00 save 5% $712.50